A - DATA USB2.0 Flash Drive - RB19 Review

Introduction:

How many two, four or six gigabyte hard drives do you have lying around? If you are, in any way, an enthusiast who doesn’t like to throw things out, you probably have enough to count on two hands. I think it might be time to throw those old dinosaurs out because there is an alternative, and unlike those heavy dust collectors, the alternative is portable.

Flash Drives are becoming more popular and some even have a storage capacity of up to sixteen gigabytes. The new generation of flash drives can hold more storage than that old hard drive, and their pricing is more affordable than ever before. With the newest innovations, flash drives can transfer files that even rival some of today’s internal and external hard drives with speeds up to and exceeding 250x, or 250 Mb/s.

Up until about this time last year, I didn’t even know that a manufacturer named A-DATA existed. The A-DATA USB 2.0 Flash Drive will be the focus of this article. It can hold up to four gigabytes of files, is waterproof, and comes with a lifetime warranty. The exterior is composed of a rubber finish, which makes it shock resistant, to a certain point.

"Founded in May, 2001 by Chairman and CEO Mr. Simon Chen, A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd. has quickly risen to become one of the world’s largest memory and flash product providers. At the beginning, with DRAM modules as the major product line, A-DATA’s mission was to become “The Global Leading Brand of Memory Products.” Later on, recognizing the market’s trend, A-DATA diversified its product portfolio to include Flash peripherals and multimedia solutions. Capitalizing on the strong growth of DRAM memory and flash related products in the market, based on DRAMeXchange 2006 and iSuppli 2006 reports, A-DATA ranks second in the world for DRAM Modules and fourth for Flash Disks respectively."

Closer Look:

The A-DATA USB 2.0 Flash Drive – RB19 comes packaged in a clear plastic enclosure, making it very obvious to see what you will be purchasing. The back of the enclosure contains the product's specifications and system requirements.

The Flash Drive itself is surrounded by a thick rubber coating, which makes it shock resistant and waterproof. It also contains an indicator light that activates when files are being transferred.

The rubberized top cap protects the USB connector.

Specifications:

Enhanced for Windows® ReadyBoost™

Support USB specification version 2.0 and compatible with USB 1.1

No external power or battery needed

Hot Plug & Play

LED indication for data access

Desktop or notebook computer with USB port

One of following operating systems Windows®: 98/98SE/ME/2000/XP/Vista™ or later

Mac®: OS 9.0 or later Linux™: Kernel 2.4 or later

For driver for Windows® 98 and AP software

Size: 72.89 x 22.53 x 12.74 mm(LxWxH) Weight: 19g

Description:

If you love sports and outdoor activities, you'll love this A-DATA RB19 USB Flash Drive as it has been designed for adventurous people. It is water, dust and shock resistant, which keeps your data from being damaged. Even though the RB19 is built to cope with special treatment, it is a small USB 2.0 flash drive that has all the features you expect to find in a normal one, such as LED indication and hot plug and play. Besides those basic features, the RB19 can take advantage of Windows® Vista™ ReadyBoost™ to boost system performance with its outstanding read/ write speeds.

More than just a digital product, RB 19 is also a personal identification to express a user’s lifestyle. With its unique material, ultra fast transfer rates and futuristic design, it is absolutely the perfect gadget for adventurous people living in the digital world!

Requirements:

Desktop or laptop computers with USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 port

One of following operation systems
Windows 98/98SE
Windows ME
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Mac OS 9.x or later
Linux Kernel 2.4 or later

Testing:

To test the A-DATA USB 2.0 Flash Drive, OverclockersClub uses the Flash Memory Tool Kit. The benchmarks used will be “Low Level Benchmark” and “File Benchmark”. The Low Level Benchmark will be used to test the drive in a read format where we will be looking to see how many Mb/s and at what speed multiplication the drive can acquire. The File Benchmark will be used to test read and write speeds in KB/s to see what type of transfer rates are achieved with one, three and five megabyte files.

Testing Setup:

AMD 64 6000+ AM2 CPU

Abit AN-M2HD (nVidia Onboard Graphics)

1GB Mushkin HP5300

Apevia 450W PSU

Maxtor Diamond Max 9 100GB SATA Hard Drive

Apevia X-Qpak2 Case

A-DATA USB 2.0 Flash Drive 4GB

Super Talent USB 2.0 Flash Drive 1GB

OCZ Mini Kart USB 2.0 1GB

Windows XP Pro SP2

DirectX 9.0C

BenQ FP222WH Monitor

Read Speed - Low Level Benchmark:

Looking at the screenshots below, you will notice that out of the three drives tested, the A-DATA maintained an almost constant average when being tested. The Super Talent and OCZ drives had some drops, but the OCZ Mini Kart had the worst of all with a drop from 90x at the start and finishing with 60x.

Testing:

Read and Write - File Benchmark:

At first, I was impressed by how the OCZ Mini Kart clearly beat the other two drives in the one kilobyte categories, but as the files got bigger, instead of increasing in speed like the other two, the Mini Karts transfer rates became worse. At the start, the A-DATA Flash Drive had the slowest rates of the three, but as file sizes increased, the speeds also increased, eventually overtaking the other two drives.

Conclusion:

So you think you’re a Guru and it’s you who your friends call to fix their computer problems, but how do you think it looks when you have to lug fifty pounds of equipment with you every time you venture over their house? Today, portability is the key and being portable can also save your back. All you need are the tools, and owning a Flash Drive to store valuable data is a must. The A-DATA USB 2.0 4GB RB-19 Flash Drive can help; it can store up to 4GB, it is compact, waterproof and shock resistant. I liked the fact that I didn’t have to sit in front of my computer humming the theme to Jeopardy while waiting for files to transfer to and from the drive. I also found out that unfortunately, it doesn’t float when in water. Honestly, I don’t have much, if anything, to complain about when it comes to the A-DATA Flash Drive. My only gripe is that it doesn’t have a lanyard, and A-DATA doesn't offer my favorite color, purple!